Route 9W, New York
1969
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
gelatin silver print
Dimensions
image/sheet: 16 x 24 cm (6 5/16 x 9 7/16 in.) mount: 27.9 x 35.6 cm (11 x 14 in.)
Classification
Photograph
Department
CPH
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Trellis Fund
Accession Number
2001.22.41
Art Historical Context
**Route 9W, New York** (1969) is a striking gelatin silver print by Lee Friedlander, a pivotal figure in American street photography. Captured along the winding Route 9W—a scenic highway tracing New York's Hudson River Palisades—this 16 x 24 cm image exemplifies Friedlander's signature style from the late 1960s. As part of the "New Snapshot" movement, his work rejected polished compositions for raw, democratic views of everyday America, often layering roads, signs, and urban clutter into complex, visually dense frames. Friedlander's gelatin silver prints, prized for their rich tonal range and...
About the Artist
Lee Friedlander
Lee Friedlander, born on July 14, 1934, in Aberdeen, Washington, to a Finnish-descended mother, Kaari Nurmi, and German-Jewish émigré father, Fritz Friedlander, discovered photography at age 14 amid a fascination with the medium's equipment. Tragedy marked his childhood when his mother died of cancer at age seven, yet he pursued his passion, earning pocket money with a camera before studying under...